Share This Story!

New areas of concern emerge in Caddo

In Saturday morning’s media briefing at the Caddo Communication Center, two previously noted areas of attention took on greater concern as rising water levels at Twelve Mile Bayou and Caddo Lake increased levels of apprehension for city and parish of

Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

New areas of concern emerge in Caddo

Brenton Wilson grabs sandbags the city left on the street to place around his mothers house in the Allendale neighborhood of Shreveport in hopes the water will stay out Saturday afternoon. The house flooded last year when the red river rose. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)Buy Photo

As the reality of impeding record rises in Twelve Mile Bayou and Caddo Lake became clear, city and parish officials apprehensively turned their attention towards north Shreveport and Caddo areas that could soon see flooding.

Resources, officials said during a morning briefing, would be concentrated on the rising water levels at Twelve Mile Bayou and Caddo Lake as any flooding from the two could have a significant impact on at least two of Shreveport’s neighborhoods — Martin Luther King and Allendale.

Twelve Mile Bayou was anticipated to rise to 39-40 feet Tuesday and while Cross and Wallace lakes had crested, Caddo Lake was still on the rise, officials said. Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator characterized the water levels as "higher than it has been in a long, long time." Resulting flooding could be significant.

In the 200 block of Oregon Avenue in Allendale, Brent Wilson and his uncle Emmett Wallace were loading buckets and trashcans with sandbags Saturday afternoon to place around Wilson’s mother’s home. Wilson said city workers dropped off the sandbags earlier after neighbors called to request them.

As Wilson hauled bags from the soggy median in front of one of the houses, his uncle recalled memories of only a few months ago when the neighborhood was in a very similar situation.

“I came here the first time this happened,” said Wallace, referencing the devastating June flood that impacted the Allendale neighborhood when Red River overflowed its banks last summer.

According to Wallace, the concrete culvert behind the homes on Oregon Avenue is filling with water just as it did then , and Wallace fears the days ahead may be a repeat performance. “They cut off the power the last time,” said Wallace, who noted many of the homes have only just recovered from the previous flood.

Ophelia Phelps, who has lived in her Oregon Avenue home for more than forty years, said the home was her mother’s house and has been in the family for more than half a century.

“We flooded last year,” said Phelps as she sat on her front porch to take a break from helping with the sandbagging efforts. “I’m praying we don’t need (the sandbags).”

Phelps is glad her neighbors called to be sure the bags would be delivered but also knows the necessary protection is another part of an extended headache that comes when dealing with potential flooding. “We had about five hundred last year," she said. "I had to hire guys to help move ‘em out.”

Phelps said that she cares less about the flood waters that are already creeping into her backyard than she does the potential havoc that could come to her family home.

“No way I know how (high) the water will get,” she said. “I just pray it stays out of my house. It can have my backyard, just not my house.”

In the nearby MLK area, resident Robert R. Thomas was worried the neighborhood's newest threat would have far worse consequences than in June.

“What we have is the Sheriff of Caddo Parish telling us that this flood will probably be, most likely be worse than it was this time last year,” said Thomas as he stood in front of standing water on Russell Road. “Now already, the water is where it was almost at the height of the flood. We still have rain coming. We still have all the bayous, the lakes, and all that still yet to crest.”

Mayor Ollie Tyler said officials are keeping their attention on the areas for potential distress and reminded residents that the shelter at Southern University remains open and sandbags are still available from the location at 3825 Mansfield Road.